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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 3379513" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #385] Chests of Three; Let Them Be[/PLAIN]"I wonder what set the trap off the second time," Ayremac muttered, as he listened to the mechanism whir and click in the wall. "Is it just going to continually go now?""This trap be mechanical nae magical so there be some sort o' the laws o' Mechanus at work 'ere," Karak said dragging his fingers thoughtfully through his beard as he pondered. "Which means that once the trap be triggered it'll continue to go off. Which means there has to be a trigger to stop it." Huzair shook his head."Laws of Mechanus?" he snorted. "You have no idea what you are talking about, do you?" Karak's lip curled back from his teeth and his face darkened."I di'nae hear you offering a better suggestion," the dwarf growled and Huzair waved off the comment."This trap is a masterfully crafted instrument. I do not yet know all the details of its workings and I do not like to speculate blindly on something about which I know little," the mage lied although only Ayremac suspected that he was telling less than the absolute truth. "However, if you are asking me to guess, I really think the key is in those chests. I am further willing to bet that they are trapped as well. And I have NO clue how to open them.""It would seem that opening the chests is an intregal part of disabling this trap," Ayremac speculated. "Or stopping the mechanism behind the wall somehow. But I am no expert in any of these areas so I will defer to others' judgment." Huzair clapped him on the back, mindful of the spiked armor, and grinned."No worries, fly boy," he smirked. "I AM an expert on these things. And I have a few ideas on how to proceed. But they all depend on everyone's willingness to rest prior to proceeding on.""Resting just before the air test, if possible, was my plan," Karak said. "But maybe to be safe it should be before.""I vote rest and heal," Morier said. "I'm still suffering weakness from that poisoned blade trap."Shamalin cast him a brief but thoroughly annoyed look before admitting,  "I have to rest anyway, in order to get most of my major spells back.""You read my mind, priestess," Huzair winked. "Before I do anything more, I want to make sure we will have time to study spells to reload." He looked at Ixin and asked, "Ssifisv usv ssifoshisv?""Ssifisv," she chose with a wary nod. "Ssifisv vur ocuir faessi-irthos marnuade epanoshomis diabolich." Huzair nodded back and turned to the others."It is decided then; we rest," he said. "But first, let me check out a few things."Huzair's plan was simple. He left Shamalin and Ixin standing outside the tiled room with instructions to count the intervals between the trap triggering and resetting. Then he went back to the chests with Ayremac, Morier and Karak in tow and cast Detect Magic. Unsurprisingly, all three chests radiated magic although he was a trifle surprised by the strength and school of magic that they radiated: moderate Illusion. He had expected Abjuraton or perhaps Evocation. Illusion was unexpected."Is there some sort of clue as to which chest we should open?" Ayremac asked after Huzair had explained what he'd seen."If they even are chests," Karak grumbled. "With magic foolin' the eye, they could be anythin'!"Morier studied the chests thoughtfully and then asked, "Isn't there an Illusion spell called Leomand's Trap? It makes things look trapped that really aren't.""It is pronounced LeoMUND'S Trap. I guess you were busy playing swordsman during that lesson on the archmagi," Huzair quipped. "And anyway, Leomund's Trap is a spell of the second circle; that is pretty weak magic as far as it goes. This spell here is fourth circle magic at a minimum.""Was there anything that made one chest look any different then the others?" Ayremac asked and Huzair shook his head."If they even are chests," Karak said again."Let's just call them chests until we know otherwise," Ayremac suggested and the dwarf snorted in displeasure. "My thought is that two chests are trapped and one has the key to open the eye door. I could be wrong, but that is just my guess.""Makes as much sense as any other theory we have," Morier admitted."I propose that we carefully search the areas around the chests, and then approach them cautiously looking for any differences," the holy warrior explained. "If there are any differences among them, perhaps one is a clue as to which chest to open.""Just don't touch anything, fly boy," Huzair grinned. "You didn't do so well in the other room." Unperturbed, Ayremac blinked."Neither did you, as I recall," he replied, but Huzair ignored the comment."Karak, go fetch Shamalin," the wizard said instead. "I'll need her for this next bit."They searched, finding nothing. When Karak returned a moment later it was with both Shamalin and Ixin and a report that the trap had not gone off at all while the males examined the chests. The report was unnecessary of course, since the trap itself made quite a lot of noise when it triggered, but Shamalin was trying to shake the feeling that Huzair had intentionally separated the two females from the group by assigning herself and Ixin an essentially pointless task. So she made the report and listened sullenly as the wizard explained the situation with the chests."So can you Dispel it?" he asked, lighting up a cigar as he asked."I can but try," she replied and tightly clutched her holy symbol.The spell that masked the chests was a potent one, but Shamalin had been pondering her connection with the White Lady ever since surviving the crushing wall trap and that contemplation seemed to have strengthened her magical might. The Dispel Magic cut easily through the carefully arranged strands of Illusion magic and at once the appearance of brass-bound wooden chests melted away.What had been concealed behind that Illusion were still chests - or at least something chest-like. They each had the same dimensions as a chest, but appeared to be composed entirely of something a wet and poisonous emerald color."What be tha'?" Karak asked as they crowded around the nearest jade block."It looks like glass," Huzair offered as he studied it from various angles. He exhaled a cloud of smoke that traced the hard edges of the container. "Even the hinges and the lock mechanism. But what's inside it?"Ofttimes, Morier bristled when Huzair mocked his knowledge of arcana or the planes. But the truth of the matter was that Huzair HAD applied himself more stridently to those pursuits when they were both learning the basics of magic while Morier had... diversified. He'd spent a great deal of time with Arwold Wyverneye and with the druid, Malcolm, learning to spot and identify certain natural hazards.Like the one that was pressed horribly against the apparent glass sides of this chest."It's green slime," Morier said and took a wary step backward.</blockquote>

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